Mobile phones create a radio-frequency electromagnetic field (EMF) around them when in use, the effects of which on brain physiology in humans are not well known. We studied the effects of a commercial mobile phone on regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in healthy humans using positron emission tomography (PET) imaging.

Explorative and objective voxel-based statistical analysis revealed that a mobile phone in operation induces a local decrease in rCBF beneath the antenna in the inferior temporal cortex and an increase more distantly in the
prefrontal cortex.

Our results provide the first evidence, suggesting that the EMF emitted by a commercial mobile phone affects rCBF in humans.

These results are consistent with the postulation that EMF induces changes in neuronal activity.Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow & Metabolism advance online